“We chose Richmond because it’s the onetime capital of the Confederacy, and we want to draw links between the way workers are treated today and the racist history of the United States,” said Kendall Fells, national organizer for Fight for $15, an initiative backed by the Service Employees International Union, a labor union with two million members.

“Today, if you look across the country, we are really still fighting against the legacy of slavery and racism in a lot of ways. For example, wages for black and Latino working families are lower due to discrimination in hiring, underfunded schools, a biased criminal justice system,” Fells said.

The Saturday march is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at Monroe Park near Virginia Commonwealth University’s campus and continue for approximately one mile to the Lee statue on Monument Avenue, where a keynote address will be given by the Rev. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP.

Barber’s speech at the recent Democratic National Convention touched on many of the social justice issues embodied in the Fight for $15 movement.

Across the country, minimum wage amounts vary — and raising the minimum wage is controversial. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. States can raise that figure but cannot go below it. In states without a minimum wage law or with a stated lower minimum wage, the federal rate applies.

Minimum wage has been an issue in the presidential election. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said the minimum wage has to go up but he has not been clear on whether he was referring to the federal rate. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has supported a $12 minimum wage and has backed the Fight for $15 initiative.

Legislation introduced in Virginia General Assembly sessions in recent years to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour have failed. But a few states and localities have passed measures to gradually raise their minimum wage to $15.

California has a $10 per hour minimum wage that is to increase incrementally to $15 by January 2022. The District of Columbia’s $10.50 minimum wage will gradually increase to $15 by July 2020. New York State’s minimum will increase from $9 to $15 effective December 2018.

“I think I can say on behalf of our small business members, we certainly understand the intention and certainly understand the struggles that folks have in wanting to see their wages raised,” said Nicole Riley, Virginia state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

“Where our members disagree is with some type of mandate from the state or federal government that would essentially double the minimum wage. For small business owners this type of mandate disproportionately affects them. They don’t have as much of a profit margin to absorb the cost of labor increases,” she said.

Riley foresees companies forced to choose between cutting hours and cutting jobs if they are mandated to pay higher wages.

“What we have seen before, particularly, is that this can really affect those who are young and who have very little skills or not that much experience. That is kind of what the minimum wage was always intended to do — to help those new and entering the workforce,” Riley said.

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce also opposes a $15 minimum wage.

“The chamber has opposed polices that make it more difficult to hire new employees and create jobs in Virginia,” said Paul Logan, Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s spokesman.

“What we have seen in other parts of the country that have implemented similar policies is that employers are forced to cut hours, hire fewer people and increasingly turn to automation for a lot of those jobs,” Logan said.

Logan pointed to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report that estimated raising the minimum wage to $9 and $10.10 per hour would reduce employment by 100,000 and 500,000 workers, respectively. The chamber has supported workforce training programs and early childhood education initiatives that would put people on the path to higher-paying jobs, he said.

The CBO report also noted that raising the minimum wage would mean millions more workers would earn more, and as a result spend more, increasing the demand for goods and services.

The Fight for $15 movement grew from efforts of fast food restaurant workers in New York City in 2012 to get better pay and respect, Fells said.

“I remember when the workers were organizing themselves to go on strike,” he said. “They were career fast food workers. Some had not received a raise in five, 10 years. They were getting burned up and down their arms. They were getting no respect.”

Fells said many big companies have responded to the initiative and raised wages.

In addition, the movement has expanded to include low-paid workers in other job sectors.

“We are really proud that in Richmond the movement is growing to include retail workers from grocery stores and nail salon workers,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of Service Employees International Union.

“Richmond has been a first in many things. We see Richmond ... as birthing the next moment of the movement, which is going to link the fights of racial justice and economic justice and expand to include more workers from other parts of the economy,” she said.